The outer race is not shown there, its inside the CF from the look of things. Bearings look ok to me...

You think the CF plates either side of the tail pulley are countersunk to fit a wider bearing than what you can actually see? You could be right as the bearing isn't flush with the outside of the plates. Then again there's not that much CF material around what you can see. Looking at the inside of the plate on the other side, it looks like a flange bearing. Hopefully we will have more pictures to clarify.

Im not worried about the bearings or the CF sideplate. Im really likin the open side tho. Loosen idler pulley off and can slide belt completely out of the tail without taking tail apart. Should make boom/belt changes a lot easier too!

Im not worried about the bearings or the CF sideplate. Im really likin the open side tho. Loosen idler pulley off and can slide belt completely out of the tail without taking tail apart. Should make boom/belt changes a lot easier too!

I thought perhaps you may be hallucinating. But on inspection, you seem to be right. Makes me a little nervous, but I'd like to see how beefy the part is. I guess they run motorcycles with the rear wheel suspended from one side. That definitely is radical.

Now I want to go find a photo from the right side, to see if I can see how beefy it is.

Looks like one might have to remove the vert fin in order to get the pulley bolt out.. but still a nice feature.

If you look closely.... the tail pulley shaft is indeed supported, by a bearing in a thick CF plate. The CF plate is bolted to an aluminum chunk of the tail case. But note that this part of the tail case is not attached to the left side of the tail case, only the right.

So the belt can be removed without first removing the tail pulley shaft and pulley or taking the case apart.

It's not 100% clear that you can sneak the belt out from under the idler pulley without removing that pulley first, but again, it's directly bolted into a member only on the right side of the tail case, so it would be pretty easy.

If you look closely.... the tail pulley shaft is indeed supported, by a bearing in a thick CF plate. The CF plate is bolted to an aluminum chunk of the tail case. But note that this part of the tail case is not attached to the left side of the tail case, only the right.

So the belt can be removed without first removing the tail pulley shaft and pulley or taking the case apart.

It's not 100% clear that you can sneak the belt out from under the idler pulley without removing that pulley first, but again, it's directly bolted into a member only on the right side of the tail case, so it would be pretty easy.

Pretty innovative.

Ahh, now I see what u mean. Innovative yes, but whats the benefit of it? Is it that necessary to be able to swap the belt without losening 2 screws? And risking a flexy construction for that?

The TDR is actually designed to allow the boom to be unclamped and slide out.

Loosen two bolts and pop open the clevis pin attaching the tail rod to the tail servo arm and off it comes. In Europe where those itsy bitsy cars are more common this is an important feature

There are also the two struts to undo from the frame.

From the Henseleit website.

"For people who have not much space in their cars it is especially advantageous that the tail boom including the front pinion, the struts and the push rod can be removed from the helicopter within less than a minute. In order to do so, you only have to detach both struts as well as the push rod in the front area of the mechanics, loosen the two lower attachment screws of the tail boom holder and pull out the tail boom to the back. The tail boom is automatically fixed at the correct position in the front holder, so that it is always exactly aligned after having been pushed in. "

I don't (yet) own a Protos, as asked my MrDan. I just can't see enough detail here to confirm what design features secure the pulley to the shaft. If that is where set screws are used, then, I would think it should be okay, since the hubs are also secured (typically) by a single set screw. I have had these wiggle loose, but were found from some altered tail behavior, and not a loss of tail control. I can understand your points though...just can't judge what it's integrity is from these pics. I expect that testing will prove it's validity or problem before we see them shipped. MSH doesn't seem to rush their models out too quickly. I bet they will release an excellent machine. I am mainly wondering about disk loading...the 500 is quite light. A lighter 700 would be another unique attribute for the class.